


Karma

by devil_woman_24



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-08 16:43:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18898600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/devil_woman_24/pseuds/devil_woman_24
Summary: Cullen blames Dorian for something he didn't do while suffering from lyrium withdrawal, it goes as well as you imagine.





	Karma

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Misunderstood](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3278297) by [Whatevergirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whatevergirl/pseuds/Whatevergirl). 



> Thank you to my dear [Mozzarella](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mozzarella/pseuds/Mozzarella) for betaing my work.

“Inquisitor! Before you go I have a question.” Josephine said just as Lavellan was turning to leave her office. She turned back to face her ambassador and smiled softly. 

“Yes? What is it?” She asked, walking over and stopping right in front of the ambassador’s desk.

“It is nothing urgent, but a situation of sorts has been brought to my attention. It would seem Master Dorian has been avoiding our Commander. When prompted, he simply said they’ve been busy. However, I feel there's more to it. It has been happening for months now and considering you're...intimate with the Commander I thought maybe you would know the reason. They are good friends, and I fear they might have argued about something. You know how they can be sometimes.” 

At these words, the Inquisitor crossed her arms and frowned. 

“No, sadly, I didn't know about this. But I'll find out. Don't worry, I'll fix this up,” she reassured Josie, who thanked the elf as she exited her office. 

Her original intention was to talk to Dorian first, but if the mage didn't want to talk it was going to be hard to get information out of him. So she had abandoned that plan in favor of asking the Commander directly. 

It was then that she saw Cole walking away from Varric to exit the building, and it occurred to her; if someone knew what happened, it must be Cole. Without wasting another second she reached the boy and touched his shoulder. He turned to look at her. 

“Yes?” He questioned tilting his head. 

“Cole, do you know what’s happened between Dorian and Cullen? I heard our mage has avoided the Commander for months." Lavellan asked.

“Yes.” Cole simply answered without adding more. 

“Would you tell me, please?” She insisted, when she noticed the spirit wasn’t going to say more. 

“Used. Betrayal. Broken hearted. I thought we were together, I should've known, should've questioned. He wanted Lavellan all along, I was just his toy. But I loved him. His hurt was echoing through the whole fort. It attracted me to him, but The Iron Bull was already there. Helping, talking, caring, worrying. I tried to help but I wasn't really needed.” Cole replied, fast-paced. Lavellan just froze, so much to process with all that Cole had said. 

Cullen did what? The elf had no words with which to express what she was feeling, too many emotions coming at once. Pain for one. Confusion for another, and so much more. One thing was clear, however: she had to confront Cullen about this. Now. 

As she came to this decision she realized Cole was gone, but that was alright. He had told her all she needed to know about the situation. Decision made, she turned and entered the library, greeting Solas and exiting through the door at his right side from where he was sitting at his desk. 

She walked down the path towards Cullen’s office as her mind turned to Cole’s words and their meaning, at what it implied her lover did to Dorian behind her back. Why did no one tell her about this? Surely someone aside from Cole must have known. She didn’t have time to ponder on this, however, as she opened the door to Cullen’s office. He was giving instructions to some of his soldiers so she waited until they were alone to approach his desk. 

“What can I do for you, my love?” he asked with a soft and tender voice. He had both of his hands resting on his desk and he was leaning on them as he watched the Inquisitor at the other side of his desk. Lavellan didn’t know how to approach the subject yet, so she remained silent thinking how best to do so and Cullen waited for her to talk first. How did she want to do this? Did she want to approach the subject cautiously or directly? 

She decided the direct approach was best. 

“Someone told me you were with Dorian, that you dumped him to go for me, but that he loved you. How could you do that?” she said. 

Cullen opened his mouth several times, but no words left his lips. He lowered his eyes a moment and pulled away from his desk, clearing his throat in the process. 

“I assure you that’s not true, Dorian and I are just friends. Who told you such a lie?” the Commander denied, but there was no way Cole had lied about this.

“Who told me didn’t lie, I assure you, so answer my question. How could you do that?” The elf insisted. The Commander gulped, visibly nervous. He lowered his eyes again and sighed before walking around his desk with the intention of grabbing Lavellan’s hands, but she took a step back avoiding him. 

“We were friends with benefits, that’s all. It was just fun, there was no love involved. I promise you I didn’t hurt him,” the Commander finally admitted. The elf swallowed. 

“That’s also not true. Dorian loved you, it wasn’t just fun for him, and you hurt him. Broke his heart.” 

The Inquisitor moved even farther away from Cullen, pain painted across her face. She thought the Commander was a righteous man, a good man.

“What? No, that’s not possible. He’s from Tevinter. It never would have-” 

She looked up at him, face flushed in anger.

“And because he’s Tevinter he’s incapable of wanting a relationship? Of loving? You’re wrong, Cullen, you’re so wrong,” she said. “This is over. What we have is over. I can’t be with a man that thinks that way, that does that sort of thing. I expect you to continue with your duties as Commander of the Inquisition objectively, but I’ll have to inform Cassandra and Leliana of this. I need to make sure you do your job as expected and do not try to hurt anyone else. Goodbye, Commander.” Lavellan said, walking towards the door. 

Cullen came forward quickly and grabbed her wrist. “Please, don’t do this, I love you,” he begged, but she pulled her arm away with force and anger.

“If you do, then change. Become a better man. Because what I heard today are not the words of a good man,” she stated before leaving.

Cullen stood there, silent and alone for a long while, before finally reacting.

He screamed, slamming his desk and sweeping his documents off the table. He let himself slide down a wall and cry and when he finally stopped he felt dulled and empty and anxious. 

His need for lyrium was increasing now, and his pain of having been left in this way by Lavellan wasn’t helping. He looked around at the mess and, with a sigh, got up, starting to fix his office, returning it to some semblance of order. As he did, he began to think who could have been the person that told her. 

Who was that person that the elf was so sure was telling the truth? Who was responsible for his loss and pain? And only one name came to mind. Dorian Pavus. It angered him. He thought the mage could keep a secret, that the mage could be relied on. But instead, he’d confided in Lavellan, thus destroying their relationship. He knew Dorian and the Inquisitor were very close friends, but he never thought the mage would lie about having feelings for him just to cause them to break up. 

With new resolve, he made his way out of his office and walked down to The Iron Bull’s room. Lately, the mage had been spotted there and he hoped to find him there now, lure him out and...and deal with the situation how he saw fit. 

Without knocking, Cullen opened the door of the qunari’s bedroom, just to freeze at the image he had in front of him. He hadn’t expected that in these early hours of the day.

The Iron Bull was on his back, his wrists tied to the top of the bed with pink ropes, and there was a small magical energy over the ropes that told Cullen no matter how much the qunari tried he wasn’t breaking free anytime soon without breaking the bed. His legs were relaxed and riding him was Dorian, with both of his hands over the bigger man’s stomach as he moved his hips up and down, hole swallowing the mercenary’s impossibly huge erection each time he lowered his hips. The mage’s mouth was hanging open, his head was thrown backwards and his eyes were closed in pure pleasure. It was obvious Dorian was in control of the situation and that The Iron Bull had given this control to Dorian, something he would’ve never done in the first place. 

Still, the sudden opening door alerted the lovers of Cullen’s arrival, and they both turned to look at the Commander. It was Bull who spoke first, however. “What can we do for you, Commander?” he asked as Dorian slowed down his hips’ movement until he stopped completely, making the qunari growl in displeasure. “In or out, Commander, but close that door.”

“Out!” Dorian stated firmly before looking away from Cullen.

“You heard the man, out, please.” Said The Bull. Cullen cleared his throat and looked away. 

“I needed to discuss something with Dorian. When you two are done, I’d like you to pass by my office. It’s something brief and it can wait,” said the man to the mage not looking at him. 

“I’ll be there soon,” Dorian stated, and the Commander departed, hastily closing the door behind him as he did. 

“He seemed quite shocked to see you up there, Kadan,” The Iron Bull said once they were alone again. Dorian sighed. 

“When I was with him, he was always in control, so of course he was. But let’s not talk about another man right now, yes?” The mage replied, resuming the fast pace of his hips, making Bull groan in pleasure at the action. 

They didn’t last long like this however. The qunari had been close when Cullen entered, and even though he had calmed down a bit, he was still high on pleasure. Dorian was gorgeous and so tight around him, his moans and groans and Tevene curses were all the fuel he needed to thrust his hips up hard a few times, making the mage yelp in surprise, and he came deep inside him while Dorian moaned, groaning at his own raging erection. He moved his hips up and down a few times, chasing his own climax and causing more of a mess between their legs, but he had to force himself to stop, realizing this would only be the start of round two for them and he had to go and find out what the Commander wanted, if only so so he could go on having fun with Bull for the rest of the evening without having to think of ever going out again.

“Come up here, Kadan, I’ll take care of that,” said The Iron Bull, seemingly reading his mind. Dorian did so, moving his hips up crawling over his big body, leaving a trace of cum as he went. He aligned his erection with his lover’s mouth, and Bull took him all in at once, making him grab his horns for support and thrust softly while he moaned to his heart’s content. 

Bull traced the veins on his erection, sucked hard and hollowed his cheeks, among other things he learned along the way, to please Dorian and make him come fast. And come fast he did, as the mage tightened his grip on the horns and thrust hard in his mouth, screaming his name and coming down his throat. 

Dorian relaxed and pulled out of his mouth, recovering his breath. After a minute or two, he got up, feeling Bull’s come down his thighs as he walked over to the wash basin to clean himself up first, knowing that if he set his lover free, Bull would want to take responsibility for the mess. 

But Dorian wanted to be the one to take care of him today, so after he cleaned himself, he moved towards The Iron Bull with a clean cloth and started wiping him down softly. The qunari hummed, watching him, letting his little mage do as he pleased. Once Dorian was done he untied the mercenary and checked his wrists, but being a qunari and all, his wrists were just fine, especially with how carefully he’d chosen the rope’s material.

“I’ll go to see what the Commander needed and be right back,” Dorian said as he moved to grab his white robe, typing it around his body and slipping some slippers of the same color on his feet. “He said it wasn’t very important, so I don’t expect it to take long. His office isn’t too far from here, so I won’t even bother properly dressing.” 

Bull sat up on the bed, watching him carefully.. “You sure? Aren’t you always complaining about the cold?”

“I know, I know, but I am so utterly fucked that I can't be bothered. I'll be right back,” the mage said, giving the qunari a small kiss before slipping out of the room, immediately regretting not getting dressed first. Still, he hastily made his way to Cullen’s office, which was no less cold, thank you very much, and slipped inside. The Commander was alone, working on some papers looking up at hearing the door open. 

“Ah. Dorian,” he said casually, looking down at his papers again to finish them up as the mage approached the desk. 

“You had need of me?” Dorian asked as Cullen nodded, looking back up.

“Yes, just a moment.” The Commander moved away from the desk and began to walk behind him. The mage guessed he’d been going to fetch something. 

He’d been wrong. So wrong.

The ex-templar made his move to inhibit Dorian’s spellcasting before Dorian himself could realize what was going on. Suddenly feeling his magic disappear made him turn to face the Commander, who was suddenly too close for comfort. A second later a hand was squeezing his balls and neck too hard and too painfully. He couldn’t scream or protest, it hurt so much, he couldn’t breathe. 

“You told the Inquisitor that we had sex. I thought you could be trusted with a secret, but it seemed I was wrong. And now I lost her because of you,” the man spit out as Dorian gasped for air. 

“I...didn’t…” was all he managed to say but Cullen didn’t reply, his eyes full of rage and so different from his usual self. 

Everything was going dark-- he had to do something or risk blacking out. In the haze, an idea sprung to mind. The Commander was close, close enough for Dorian to knee him between his legs, and so he did, forcing him to pull away from the mage, who didn’t waste time and started to run towards Bull’s bedroom, despite the pain and lack of air. If someone could keep him safe, it was the qunari. 

If he could reach him before Cullen grabbed him, that is, because the ex-templar was running after him now. He couldn't help but think he had balls of steel to run after him like this after being kneed.

As he approached the bedroom he screamed “BULL!!”, and that was all the mercenary needed to jump out of bed and open the door. Fast, too fast--he broke the door, but he didn’t care because Cullen was grabbing Dorian by his robes pulling him towards himself as Dorian yelped surprised. The qunari acted fast and grabbed the mage’s arm that had been outstretched, trying to reach his lover, and pulled him to his chest, forcing Cullen forwards. He punched him in the face, controlling his strength so as not to kill him, but hard enough to break his nose and send him to the floor. Dorian quickly moved behind the qunari, trembling with fear and trying to force his tears back. He had felt so defenseless, so vulnerable...

Cullen got up and pulled his sword up. His eyes were filled with rage and loss of all sense of control as he attacked The Iron Bull, who simply grabbed the sword with his opened hand and punched him again, sending him back to the floor. 

Hearing all the ruckus, Cassandra and the Inquisitor ran up the stairs nearby to see what was going on, arriving just as Cullen had fallen to the floor again, but had scrambled back up to keep fighting. The female warrior stopped the Commander with the help of the Inquisitor. 

“What the hell has gotten into you?!” Lavellan screamed at him. 

“Let me go!” Cullen yelled, struggling.

“He doesn’t seem like himself,” Bull pointed out. 

“He has been fighting with withdrawal due to previous lyrium use when he was a Templar. It could explain his current rage,” Cassandra said, brought up to speed on what the Commander had done to Dorian. “By the Maker, get dressed,” the woman added to the Bull. 

Feeling safer, Dorian moved in front of his lover to shield his nudity, even if the big lummox didn’t care who saw him. 

“We’ll deal with this, you two go,” the Inquisitor told them as Bull had hugged Dorian by his waist to comfort him.

“Come on, Kadan,” the qunari said, moving back inside the room. He bent over to lift the door, trying as best he could to replace it on the frame. Dorian lifted his hand to fix it and remembered his lack of magic, groaning and moving back inside, to leave Bull to the task of repair. 

“We should get dressed and get to your bedroom for now. What happened?” The qunari added, making a point of the broken door as a reason not to stay in his bedroom. 

The mage refused to get dressed though, just watching Bull getting dressed. “I...I’m not sure. He suddenly repressed my use of magic and...had me by my balls and neck. My whole body hurt and I was losing consciousness when I kneed him between his legs and ran away. You know the rest,” Dorian quickly explained, crossing his arms over his chest sniffing softly. His body still hurt, and he just wanted to curl up and have his magic back. The mercenary pulled something from one of his drawers and made a gesture for Dorian to come to him. 

“I’ll put this around your balls, okay? It’ll help with the pain, and when you get your magic back you can heal yourself, the qunari said and the mage nodded letting the man open his robes to put something cold around his private parts. It hurt so much that he didn’t even protest how cold that was, and Bull didn’t comment on that either. “Done.” The man said, cleaning his hand with a cloth and closing Dorian’s robes. “Want me to carry you to your room?” The merc asked, pulling a clean blanket from a drawer to cover Dorian with it, since the mage had refused to get dressed.

Dorian thought about the question but shook his head. “No, I can walk,” he said, still wanting to preserve his pride and dignity. 

The Iron Bull had an arm over the mage’s shoulders, caressing his arm as they walked to Dorian’s bedroom to keep him as warm as possible. The people who saw them didn’t dare to comment on how Dorian was dressed and the mage thanked the Maker for that, though he suspected Bull was just intimidating them with a simple look. It was one of the qunari’s many skills, something Dorian appreciated highly. 

Once in the bedroom, the mercenary busied himself heating the room up first as Dorian took his robes off and laid on the bed. Once Bull was done and the room was in the process of warming up he laid next to Dorian and manhandled him to lay him on top of him, covering him with blankets cuddling the man and caressing his hair, making him hum in pleasure. “Sleep, Kadan, and when you wake up you’ll see your magic will be back,” he comforted, sensing the lack of magic bothered him more than he let on.

\---

That night, there was a knock on the door of the mage’s bedroom. 

When Dorian had woken up, he noticed the qunari had patching his hand up, and he remembered the mercenary had stopped Cullen’s sword with his bare hand, so he’d probably cut himself while defending the mage. Having awoken with his magic back, just like Bull said, he healed himself and Bull’s hand before returning to cuddle with his lover and read a book together with the qunari reading out loud for him. Hearing his voice was comforting, distracted him from the fear of what had happened mere hours before in that day. 

He had been powerless against the Commander without his magic, because no matter how good he was fighting without magic, Cullen was just better than him in that area. Even with magic the Commander was a templar that was used to fighting mages. 

If it was true that the Commander was having withdrawal effects, he just hoped the man got the help he needed. Far away from him and Bull. 

“Come in,” Dorian said, and and Lavellan walked in, closing the door behind her. 

“How are you?” She asked, worry painting her face. 

“I’m alright, we’re alright. Don’t worry. A bit scared of the Commander if I’m being honest,” he admitted to his friend, who nodded in understanding. 

“Cassandra and Leliana will keep an eye on him. He seemed genuinely sorry for what he did,” she said, and Dorian just nodded, not replying to that, so she continued. “Josephine had asked me why you and he seemed distant, and when I went to ask Cullen about it, I saw Cole so I asked him instead. He told me what Cullen did to you in his own way, that you two used to be together and he left you for me. I confronted the Commander and he was upset, of course, but I ended things with him as he said things I wasn’t okay with. I never told him who told me, just that I was sure who told me had spoken the truth. I’m sorry, I feel this is my fault. The commander assumed it had been you who told me, and that's one of the reasons he attacked you.” 

At that Dorian sat up, making sure to keep his lower body covered with the blanket. So she knew now. “It’s not your fault. He was the one who assumed I had told you but...I should’ve told you anyways. I apologize for that, I just wanted you to be happy,” the mage said, and Lavellan sat on the bed next to him to hug the mage. He hugged her back smiling softly. “I’m fine, I assure you. My dear Amatus has been taking care of me; he’s awfully sweet for such a big beast, you know?” 

The elf chuckled at that as they pulled away. “I organized an expedition for us. You, Bull and I will stay in Val Royeaux. Josephine will be attending some matters for the Inquisition while you two shop, dine and have some relaxing fun. Yes?” 

At the idea, Dorian brightened up. “Yes!” he said enthusiastically. “I adore the idea. Thank you.” The elven woman smiled then and got up. 

“We’ll depart the day after tomorrow so you two will have time to tidy things up here. I’d like to bring someone else with us. Who should I bring?” she asked, standing by the door.

“Cole, Sera or even Varric could come. I wouldn’t mind Cassandra either,” Dorian answered. She nodded. 

“Very well, I’ll see who I can bring. I can’t bring Cassandra, however, I need her and Leliana to keep an eye on the Commander,” she said before leaving, closing the door behind her.

Dorian turned to Bull, smiling. “I hope you don’t mind, Amatus, that you’ll be dragged away from your men,” he said, and the qunari smiled back, moving forward to capture his lips with his in a tender manner that made Dorian practically melt in his arms.

“I don’t as long as I can keep you smiling like this,” was his answer, and the mage laughed. 

“You’re such a sap. Kiss me again,” he demanded, pulling him by the horn.

“You like it,” was the qunari’s answer.


End file.
